Chunuk Bair Memorial, Anzac, Gallipoli

This memorial relates to the Battle of Sari Bair and in other operations in this sector. It bears more than 850 names.

On the evening of 6 August, after overcoming the Turkish outposts in the area, the columns from Anzac began their night march.

The Australian troops of the 4th Brigade became lost and were delayed in a maze of ridges and gullies. By daybreak part of the New Zealand Brigade managed to climb within striking distance of their objective, Chunuk Bair (now Conkbayiri). When the New Zealanders attacked later that morning they were repulsed.

The failure to capture Chunuk Bair had unfortunate consequences for the Australians who were to carry out the diversions for 7 August.

The Light Horsemen of the 8th and 10th Light Horse were shot down in droves when they attacked the full strength (and secure from the rear) Turkish trenches at the Nek.

In the early hours of 8 August the Navy laid down a heavy barrage on the heights of the Sari Bair range and the New Zealanders gained a foothold. Ghurkhas and British troops also occupied positions close to the summit of Hill Q (now Besimtepe). The Australians who were to seize Hill 971 were well short of their objective and receiving increasing Turkish opposition. On Chunuk Bair the New Zealanders were subjected to ferocious counter attacks and were forced back to positions just off the summit. On 9 August efforts to recapture the summit failed and a successful attack on Hill Q was thwarted when the troops were shelled by their own guns and forced to retire. On 10 August a massive counter attack drove the Allies from their positions near Chunuk Bair to the slopes below. The vital heights were now beyond reach, and the last offensive on the Gallipoli peninsula had failed.

IN HONOUR OF

THE SOLDIERS

OF THE

NEW ZEALAND

EXPEDITIONARY

FORCE

8th AUGUST

1915

FROM THE UTTERMOST

ENDS OF THE EARTH

Photo below: Eric Goossens

Visiting Information:	Chunuk Bair Cemetery lies on a very severe slope approximately one metre below the road level, which is accessed down a flight of steps. Wheelchair access possible via main entrance. For further information regarding wheelchair access, please contact our enquiries department on telephone number 01628 634221.
Location Information:	Chunuk Bair (New Zealand) Memorial is on the north-west side of Chunuk Bair Cemetery, which is on the ridge which runs north-east from Brighton Beach.
Historical Information:	The eight month campaign in Gallipoli was fought by Commonwealth and French forces in an attempt to force Turkey out of the war, to relieve the deadlock of the Western Front in France and Belgium, and to open a supply route to Russia through the Dardanelles and the Black Sea. The Allies landed on the peninsula on 25-26 April 1915; the 29th Division at Cape Helles in the south and the Australian and New Zealand Corps north of Gaba Tepe on the west coast, an area soon known as Anzac. On 6 August, further landings were made at Suvla, just north of Anzac, and the climax of the campaign came in early August when simultaneous assaults were launched on all three fronts. Chunuk Bair was one of the main objectives in the Battle of Sari Bair, fought 6-10 August 1915. The attack was to be carried out by two columns of the New Zealand Infantry Brigade, starting from the outposts on the shore and proceeding up the Sazli Belt Dere and the Chailak Dere. Meanwhile the New Zealand Mounted Rifles were to clear the foothills. The New Zealand Infantry reached Rhododendron Spur, where they were joined by the 10th Gurkha Rifles, from further north, and reinforced by the 8th Welsh, the 7th Gloucesters, the Auckland Mounted Rifles, and the Maori Contingent. The Wellington Infantry and some of the Gloucesters and Welsh reached the summit, and were later joined by men of the Auckland Infantry and Mounted Rifles. These troops, after repulsing incessant Turkish attacks, were reinforced by the Otago Battalion and the Wellington Mounted Rifles. The 6th Gurkhas and the 6th South Lancashire Regiment came in on the left. The 6th Loyal North Lancashire Regiment relieved the force at Chunuk Bair on the evening of 9 August, supported later by part of the 5th Wilts, but on the morning of the 10th, the position was taken by a determined and overwhelming counter-attack, carried out by a Turkish Army Corps led by Mustapha Kemal Pasha. The loss of Chunuk Bair marked the end of the effort to reach the central foothills of the peninsula and on this sector of the front, the line remained unaltered until the evacuation in December 1915. The CHUNUK BAIR (NEW ZEALAND) MEMORIAL is one of four memorials erected to commemorate New Zealand soldiers who died on the Gallipoli peninsula and whose graves are not known. This memorial relates to the Battle of Sari Bair and in other operations in this sector. It bears more than 850 names. CHUNUK BAIR CEMETERY was made after the Armistice on the site where the Turks had buried some of those Commonwealth soldiers who were killed on 6-8 August. It contains 632 Commonwealth burials, only ten of which are identified.
No. of Identified Casualties:	850